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Winchester adjusts to foe's new plan

Winchester's coaching staff pored over tape of five Knightstown football games this year and saw the Panthers keep the ball on the ground about 85 percent of the time.

So imagine the Golden Falcons' surprise when Knightstown came out in Friday's Class 2A sectional game by throwing the ball all over the field.

Knightstown stunned Winchester with 13 early points, but the Golden Falcons were able to regroup and claim a 48-34 victory.

"They chucked it all over the place," Winchester coach Mike Jones said. "They threw it 37 times. We had seen a lot of pro set, two-back, veer on film. Kudos to them (for changing it up)."

Kiante Enis returned a kickoff 81 yards after Knightstown's second TD to get Winchester within 13-7. The Golden Falcons went on to score four more touchdowns – all by Enis – in the first half for a 35-21 lead at the break.

Two touchdowns in the third quarter gave Winchester a 48-8 scoring run.

Enis rushed 26 times for 270 yards and TD romps of 58, 77, 47, 10 and 18 yards to lead Winchester. The outburst move's his season total to 2,830 yards, No. 11 on the state's all-time single-season rushing list, 45 behind Floyd Central's Kyle Bramble for No. 10.

Winchester will host Centerville next week in the second round of the playoffs. Centerville edged Broad Ripple 34-32 on Friday.

• Monroe Central 41, Tri 0: Monroe Central used a 20-point second quarter to pull away in a big win to open the postseason and set the program record for victories in a season.

Marcus Drummer ran the ball 10 times for 93 yards and three touchdowns for the Golden Bears. Jansen Blevins and Logan Conklin each had touchdown runs, and Conklin also completed a touchdown pass to R.J. Sears.

Conklin finished the game with 128 passing yards.

The win moved the Bears to 7-3, and bettered the young program's mark for wins. They went 6-5 last season.

Monroe Central will play at Eastern Hancock next week. Eastern Hancock defeated Cambridge City 41-12 on Friday.

• Northeastern 42, Wes-Del 0: The Class A No. 4 Knights were too strong for the Warriors, but Wes-Del coach Brad Hess liked the way his team stood up to its foe.

"We fought hard against a top-five team in the state, went toe-to-toe with them, got beat, but the kids never quit and kept fighting," Hess said. "I really believe we're going in the right direction."

After having their lone regular season victory stripped away, the Giants won a playoff game for the first time since defeating Jay County 56-19 on Oct. 21, 2011. The Patriots had eliminated the Giants 50-16 in last year's opening round.

Jay County, which finished 2-8, ran 65 offensive plays while the Giants had 38.

Jay County didn't make it easy for Marion in the second half with freshman fullback Cole Stigleman and Joey Link gashing the defense for big plays. Stigleman ran 24 times for 126 yards, and Link was 9 of 18 passing for 180 yards and two TDs.

Cameron Kunkle caught a 13-yard TD and Brandon Muhlenkamp a 10-yarder as the Patriots closed to within 35-20 after three quarters.

But the Patriots were unable to slow Marion's rushing attack that amassed 355 yards on 31 attempts (11.5 average per play).

"Without question, we knew going in that (Marion's) speed was something we had not seen a lot this season," Jay County coach Tim Millspaugh said. "(Dewayne) Eskridge of Bluffton is a fast back we played against, but it's hard to practice for the kind of speed they have. And turnovers hurt us early in the game."